NRIs petition Tamil Nadu Govt to demand Justice for Lavanya

Lavanya, a 17-year-old student at Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School, Thanjavur, was allegedly forced to commit suicide for refusing to convert to Christianity.

Chennai: A group of NRIs have petitioned the Tamil Nadu government to demand justice for 17-year-old Lavanya, a student at Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School in Thanjavur, who was allegedly forced to commit suicide for her refusal to convert to Christianity.

The NRIs are running the campaign through Hinduhub.org.

In the digital campaign run by Hinduhub.org, more than 20000 emails have been sent to the authorities in Tamil Nadu, including DGP and State Home Secretary.

The NRIs have expressed deep shock at how rather than arresting the culprits, the police was more interested in harassing the person who shot the dying declaration of Lavanya.

The body text of the campaign mail read: “I was shocked to see the dying declaration of Lavanya in the missionary school on various social media channels and the careless attitude of the Thanjavur SP in this case simply dismissing various allegations made of a very serious nature.

Lavanya was a bright student full of dreams. Reports say that she was always a topper at the school and scored 489/500 marks in the 10th Exams, 98 percent MARKS!! Despite that the school staff forced her to clean toilets and premises, wash utensils etc. for refusing to convert. This is a grave human rights violation of a Minor Hindu Student.

I am also disappointed with the reports that, instead of arresting the Principal of the missionary school that forced Lavanya to commit suicide, the Tamil Nadu police are harassing the man who recorded her dying declaration. I request this stop immediately.

Her dying declaration is heart-wrenching. Various courts have upheld dying declarations and their sacrosanct position in jurisprudence. It is time for your good selves to step in and correct this injustice.

The citizens of India have raised the following questions – 1) Why pressure was put on the minor child to convert? 2) Why was a child asked to clean toilets? Was this a normal practice in the school? 3) Why did they not employ cleaners? 4) Did all children have to do cleaning duties or only Hindus? 5) Is this not a prima facie case of Hinduphobia? 6) Why is the School Principal not arrested yet?

Kindly do the needful urgently. Thank you.”

Fed up with the torture meted out at the school, Lavanya consumed poison on January 9. She was rushed to the hospital where she struggled for her life for 10 days. But succumbed on January 19.

In a video, which has since gone viral on different social media platforms, the victim could be heard saying “They (school authorities) asked my parents in my presence, if they can convert me to Christianity, they would help me in further studies. Since I didn’t accept, they kept torturing me.”

Expressing its lack of faith in the investigation by the Tamil Nadu government, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday (January 27) demanded CBI investigation in the case.